1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to data transmission. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to data transmission to participants of large-scale conferences that exceed the capacity of a single media server.
2. Background Information
A conference links multiple participants over a network. Audio and multimedia conferencing is typically achieved by a network-based mixing media server. Such a media server generally combines audio streams from all participants to form a mixed audio stream. Such a media server may also combine video streams of all participants to form a mixed video stream by either reducing the size of the video streams and piecing them together in a matrix or by switching between the video streams to show only one participant at a time. The mixed audio stream and/or video stream is then transmitted from the media server to each of the participants. Presently, a media server has a finite capacity; generally in the order of one thousand participants. Thus, in order to support large-scale conferences that exceed the capacity of a single media server, multiple media servers must be utilized.
In such large-scale conferences, each participant is typically connected to one of several first tier media servers. Each of the first tier media servers combine the audio and/or video streams of each of the participants connected thereto to form a partial mixed audio and/or video stream. Thereafter, a second tier media server combines the partial mixed audio and/or video streams formed by each of the first tier media servers to form a universal mixed audio and/or video stream. The second tier media server transmits the universal mixed audio and/or video stream to each of the first tier media servers, and the first tier media servers then transmit the universal mixed audio and/or video stream to each of the participants.